There Are Only 2 Tyres Worth Buying

Tyres are always the talk of the town, but over the years I've found the solution.

Send me some fuel money or buy me a beer.

My gear

[tankeater]

It's really hard to take the advice of someone who dresses like Vincent and Jewels after they shot Marvin in the face in Pulp Fiction...

[tieoneon]

I guess I went the different route. After years of enduro, I found it easy to get a bigger ADV bike thru tricky offroad areas just from balance, momentum and weighting the bars/pegs instead of full knobbies. Having a bike comfortable on long pavement stretches was a newfound pleasure being able to explore anywhere all day knowing u got the skill and experience to get in/out of anything offroad within reason. Or on a hot day after work, just go for a little rip around town to cool off without the worry of wearing out those $270 "offroad only" tires. I found myself riding my bike twice as much with cheap 50/50 tires and adjusting the psi on/off road.

[meinekleineweltreise]

Wow, I would never call the AX41 a wannabe tire. I really enjoyed them. In the deep sand of Utah and also in the mountains of Colorado. They don’t last long, but perform quite good especially on my Africa Twin. For longer distances I would go for a AX41 at front and a Motoz Tractionator Adventure at the rear. You may get more out of a set of Dunlop Trailmax Mission, but in wet conditions for me they become unpredictable.

[vtrack]

For the way I ride my VStrom 1000XT, mostly pavement and good gravel/dirt/rock roads, Dunlop TrailMax Missions have been fantastic. I have over 37, 000 miles (60, 000 km) on 3 sets of them. Your advice is spot on for the way you ride (as seen from your videos). Good video!

Another note, I prefer reinforced bias ply tires for tubeless tires. Their sidewalls are stiff enough you may be able to ride them flat to a safe area to plug them.

[TheShithouseADVRider]

Hi mate, I'm about to throw on my 4th set of MOTOZ Adventure, great tyres, like you said, big mileage, around 10-11k out of the rear on my 2018 R1200GSA. The front did scallop when going back onto bitumen after the dirt and I didn't raise the pressure. Off-road they are nothing but confident, on the road they are still pretty good, I slow down in the wet, I don't want any $hithouse moments.

[mikef]

I have a Ktm 690 enduro r and run Dunlop Trailmax Missions on it. I was burning through knobbies in 2000 miles or less on the roads so I switched to the missions. They are much better on the road, fine on gravel and dirt but not good in mud for me. That’s fine because I’m no fan of mud either. The better road performance has been great. It seems a 50/50 tire suits my riding better than the knobbies and the extra mileage I’ll get out of the is a bonus

[Fsince]

Aussies are the best! Who else would do a motorcycle tire guide video in their underchunders! 😂

[chukku]

I kind of agree with most of this.
There are just two issues:
A) most knobby tires are only abailable as tube types. And since many modern ADV bikes only come with TL wheels (because customers are always dissappointed if they don't, which is actually very misguided exactly for this reason), not suitable for those bikes. Only exceptions that I know of: Motoz Rallz / Desert HT and Mitas Enduro Trail XT+ (successor to the E09).
And since Motoz are very hard to find in Europe, my only option for my Tuareg is the Mitas.
B) Longevity is a double edged sword. Many tires that are famous for their good mileage (like the yellow stripes/Dakar Versions of all Mitas tires and all Motoz except for the Rallz/Desert HT) achieve that with a hard rubber compound (low silica percentage). That makes them a menace on wet roads and you should only consider them if you live in a dry climate like Australia / Africa or some sunny US states. In central Europe you should really value your safety higher than good mileage.
Of course there are also tires with good mileage AND wet grip (TKC 70, K60 Scout, ...) I am just saying: don't make longevity your main priority if you expect to see rain from time to time

[stubabyfuora]

Agreed, same issue with dual sport, go full knobby, it gives you a real dirt bike and still rides pavement. Add rim locks and balance weight as needed for street

[alexmoreno]

I have Motoz dualventure front and Rallz rear on my Tuareg. They are awesome off road. Totally confidence inspiring. They are noisy on road, but we should be wearing earplugs anyways. The dualventure does wobble some on road when you unload the front during acceleration.

[Mikethebike-ovyp]

Well said advice. I'm a 60 yr old who rides a lot of highway but needs to be able to scramble forest and fire trail roads. I certainly don't go as hard as you though Curtis
on sigle track and the like- mostly solo riding.
Easily the best tire I've found for what i do is the Motoz GPS- long lasting, reasonable to good grip on and off pavement, reasonably priced and ozzie designed.
The best 50/50 i, ve found. Won't budge from these on my KLR.
Allabest mate. PS- i can get up to 10'000 plus Kms out of them on the rear easily.

[terratrodder]

I've done the D606/MT21 pair for a bit and they work well although the MT21 wore out quickly. I switched to the Shinko 700 with a MotoZ Rallz front and that has worked so good for me for all types of terrain, even amazing in snow surprisingly. I think when the Shinko wears out I'll try the RallZ rear.

[mennonitemoto]

Amen! I ride sand about 80% of my km and i FINALLY went to a full dessert tire and its a world of difference. Still street legal and its noisey on the hwy but im mostly offroad

[manybikes]

Great information. I agree with it all, except the AX41 not being good. Just because it only lasts 1500 miles doesn't mean it wasn't amazing "for a little bit." Motoz RalllZ rear 100% and the Dual Venture are great.

[ShadowVonChadwick]

Love the jarmies 😁 Sorry could not resist. 👍 Good chat, I forked my MT21 not running enough air while doing too many highway and twistie Ks. Rear 606 has stood up well and still giving good feel. Cheers. New bike coming in March, but calls for a 140/80-17" not a lot to chose from. 606 130/80-17 ? Or Trailmax Raid 140/80-17, don't know it.

[mazdar]

Top vid and timely. I run Michelin Anakee Wild front a rear on the T7 but are getting the Michelin anakee adventure but they will be doing a road only trip and will be coming off as soon as I get back. Might consider the motoz you recommend when I fit the dirt tyres back on….

[Max-yexg]

My sister won't even let me walk around the house in my boxers and t-shirts and I'm handicapped with crutches

[SomewhereInside]

Got a set of Pirelli trail master 2 ‘s …for Versys 650… compared to the stock tyres …they are brilliant, great for power slides on dirt, confidence inspiring on road

[malybullg]

Mate the Rally Dual Venture TT front tyre is amazing. It is more aggressive than the tubeless version and it sticks like shit to a blanket and lasts ages both on and off road. I am on my 3rd rear tyre with it and only just turned it around to even up the wear. Definitely buying this one again.

[retiredwaterdoctor]

Great info when it's time to will need to do that on the KLR soon as I rolled over 3000 KLM before putting away last fall.